GW in a modern setting?

Taking the exact same game engine we have now, how effective do you think a GW game could be, but in a modern setting?

There'd still be magic, but instead of bows and arrows we'd have assault rifles & guns. Instead of spirits we'd have turrets and gadgets. Instead of undead we'd have robots. Another idea was to basically add more sci-fi elements on top of what we already have; robots as a new set of summons, but still have undead. Keep spirits but also have turrets. in addition to traps, also have land mines, etc.

I'd prefer cyberpunk... it's close enough to modern, but with a few tweaks.

I for sure would not play this.

I'm sorry to hear that. Is it you don't like games set in a modern setting? Is it that guns and robots are too overdone? What about, as the other respondent said, a cyber-punk setting, or a steam-punk setting? What about something more Renaissance-era, with simple firearms? Could you expand upon what would turn you off to a different setting?

I wouldn't mind a modern day game based off of the GW engine and game play concept. That sounds kind of fun the way you describe it actually.

Hellgate London? Maybe?

I wouldn't like GW in a modern setting for several reasons.

- I prefer the swords and magic theme with minimum gunpowder age involved.

- Assault rifles and such don't mix well with magic IMO. Why would you need them if you could just summon a meteor storm upon your enemies?

- I would be more inclined to play a Sci-fi theme involving advanced technology and space exploration.

- GW, as other online games, is a bit of an escape and relief from a somewhat depressing reality. It's much easier and less divisive to socialize and talk about the woes and joys of the Ursanway (in GW) or the martian faction (in a sci-fi theme) than to talk about blood diamonds and the war in Iraq - from a modern-day setting.

My 2 cents...

Dude I play CoD4: Modern Warfare competitively, it's not the modern part, it's the combination of magic and modern that is an epic fail. Take Harry Potter for example, epic fail.

Well... that's just bad implementation. In the case of Harry Potter, they take modern mannerisms and slap magic onto them. Mechanics-wise, whether your character was firing off a bow or a rifle, what would be the difference (other than the graphics, of course).

I can think of many reasons why one would use a gun even if magic was available; you can fire a gun if silenced, you don't need magical aptitude to use a gun, and perhaps magic and firearms would have other differences implemented - like perhaps some adrenal skills for firearms.

Right, I mean, a multibillion dollar franchise = fail.

*rolls eyes* at people who think that THERE form and ONLY there form of entertainment is "the right one." No one can read this book, interpret this poem, enjoy this song, etc. in a different way then I do.

Did I say that my opinion was the only right one? No. It's my opinion and that is all. He wanted to know what people would think of a modern version of Guild Wars in terms of effectiveness, and I said what I think: epic fail.

If you really want a modern Guild Wars, well you're not going to get one.

not to say this is a bad idea or anything, but the idea of a "warrior/assassin/dervish" type class fitting into this game play is a little....unreasonable dont ya think?

I mean don't get me wrong watching someone try to run at you with a big weapon and hit you with it while hes being barraged with bullets would be funny to see.....but then it would almost be fps like if we didnt have that.

You mean their. Anyways I'm also not a huge fan of modern technology combined with magic (I almost stopped playing Vampire The Masquereade when midgame my character went from 13-th century Middle Europe to late 20-th century London). I like the steampunk theme though, or even adding just the most basic of firearms. Also just because something is a financial success doesn't make it a good piece of art/technology/whatever. Take WoW for example.

Perhaps it's an issue of scale that we need to get over; how is a warrior charging through a hail of bullets and arrows any different than a warrior charging through a hail of lightning bolts and fireballs? I don't think the power level would need to be completely redone - you could argue that the armor would be capable of protecting the wearer from bullets to the same extent it can protect them from arrows in the current settings. Magic would be a constant, though.

Perhaps firearms would be to magic as daggers are to axes - a lower damage range but higher rate of fire.

Harry Potter movies and books are very entertaining...

I just dont like the idea of having a game like Guild Wars with guns. Not exactly my forte.

If you want this then play warhammer or starcraft. No point in doing this for guildwars.

Well, Starcraft is an RTS, so that wouldn't work. And Warhammer has a different feel.

Honestly, though, I'm surprised there's so much resistance to this premise. Is there some unspoken connection to "high fantasy" that demands it be the only setting that a CRPG/Action RPG can be set in, or have I offended someone?

No, no, no. I'm kind of sick of the whole movie style invincibility of our characters in videogames already. I can tolerate the magic, where apocalyptic thunder bolts of doom are raining down amongst the fighters, inflicting only 5% damage. Because magic is not real, and because it's not real, the fact that characters are fighting against it, these characters should have unreal protection and armor.

However, bullets are part of reality. I dislike the thought of such real life death inflicting objects that could pummel a character and not blow the person asunder. It just doesn't seem right, when all the armor in our modern world can't protect a person against a plethora of weapons. Yet a GW type of game based in our modern era could do the exact opposite in terms of fighting capabilities.

Well... it wouldn't be very much fun to roll a character, get bitten by some animal, and spend the next 2 months recouping in some hospital somewhere.

There *has* to be a certain level of suspension of belief for a video game to work, and in the context of the game-world, magic is just as real as the swords or armor in it.

It's very difficult to make a game realistic, especially in a multiplayer environment, and still have it be entertaining.

Personally, I'd rather have a game have a low level of realism in favor of entertainment...

Which is why a modern setting would fail.

I might like it, but it would hardly be GW any more. IT would be a totally different game, with a different storyline and different objectives...

Modern would be............well, too modern. Futuristic could work out, since we could envision greater weapons and better armor.

See it through this scenario. Let's say a guy is trying to snipe me out from a bunker and I decided to launch some mortar rounds at him. Typically a mortar round would kill any kind of person with a direct hit. But to see a person walking out of such a mess afterwards is just plain silly. If I see something like that happened; I would just forget about the game.

"Modern" doesn't always have to mean the world we know; it can still be fantasy, but modern only in tech. I like the idea of, maybe not Guild Wars with the 6 gods and lore and such, but with the engine, controls, and skill systems in a modern-fantasy world. In fact, that is one of the main reasons I am eagerly awaiting the World of Darkness MMO currently being worked on by CCP. I'm pretty sure that is the modern-fantasy setup we're talking about here.

Steampunk and Cyberpunk are alright, too. I am a bigger fan of Steampunk, though. It leaves more possibilities for mounts (vehicles and creatures), weapons (guns and swords), and crafting (armor and mechanics). It might be the best setting for an MMO outside of traditional fantasy, TBH.

Play hellgate. similar classes in a post-apocalyptic setting. Thats as close as you'll get in terms of game play to what you're thinking of on the market right now (ie: everything has guns or machines to kill stuff for em, etc)

FYI: dx9 engines are outdated now. GW1 looked great for its time. any dx10 game blows its socks off

GGs

What I like is... welll EVERYTHING. Steam, Mevieval, Scy-fi.... everything.
Bows and snipping riffles, swords and guns, bazookas and spells.
The more the merries, they say.

People want everything. One way or another. Give it to them, and they will be hapy for a long time. Then make more things and give them again.


For that, one of the best franchises to start with is Myst and his books and infinite ages. The problem with myst games is that they are just puzzle games.

Imagine all those worlds with GW rules!

Meh on Hellgate. It was definitely promising, and it was pretty fun in the beginning, but it's just too darn repetitive. Plus, there are way too many differences in playstyle between GW and HG:L that make them far different games besides the setting. I think the OP is talking about the gameplay elements that make GW great, but in a modern[esque] setting. That is something I'd love to play, honestly.

I prefer the "Swird and Sorcery" type of games. Adding crossbows to GW would be about as modern as I would like to see it.

The main attraction for me buying my first copy of guild wars was the fantasy setting. So in all probability I would not have bought it.

I think there needs to be a definition here that, at least in my understanding, the OP is not suggesting this be set in our world.

Realism as we know it does not play a part. Yes, it would be impossible for a sniper to walk away from a few mortar rounds falling on his head. However, not if he saw them setting up the mortar and cast a spell of protection around his position. And the sniper was there because he had a silenced rifle which he could use to stealthily take out some big wig, something that would be impossible to do if you only had access to fireballs and swords.

What this subject brings up is melding the two ideas and genres. If it were done correctly, I think it would be a pretty good game. If it were done poorly... well, just like anything else of that nature, it would fail. Just think of it as Guild Wars set 1,500 years in the future as opposed to 250. I for one would hope that on some level technology would advance, even with the boon of magic to slow its development.

Well D&D 'Stormreach' online used the GW engine, so I see no reason why other games couldn't.
Selling the engine earns Anet money which they can spend on nerfing us.
Long as they don't paste the name Guildwars over it, causing confusion on what GW is, or sioling it's name if that game happens to be bad.
Nor have Anet make it, they are already too distracted making GW2, would be no good if they where like that during GW2 as well.

I like steam punk a lot and cyberpunk just as much as GW's current feudal warfare setting.
However, there should be no 'magic' magic in those, it would still work the same, but you can't let the reason behind it be powers of the will to distort the laws of physics, you'd have to use some kind of other way to make the magic work.
Otherwise the lore and integrity of your setting will be destroyed and it own;t be Cyberpunk, Steam punk or modern, it will just be a mess of things thrown together, with no perceivable reason behind them.
Nanobots/Micromachines/Nanites are the common answer in cyberpunk, it's harder for steam punk though.

In steam punk however you have rapid advancement from 0 point, meaning that magic could have already been there and technology just appeared.
That doesn't means the techies can use spells though, it creates a great story insertion, as mages will always perceive the 'sparks' as a threat to their superiority and likely try to eradicate them.
While on the other hand the 'sparks' can't stand the magicians as the proximity of someone who distorts the laws of physics hinders or breaks technology(which relies on the laws of physics to stay constant)

However, with me interested in Anarchy Online again, Tabula Rasa here(already tried it, still needs plenty of work on balance and I need a new video card, before playing it will be fun) and the incredibly awesome Huxley on it's way(Hellgate is mwah, too grindy, never was a Diablo2 fan)
I have my non historical MMO need filled for at least 2008.
What I would like though is a Half life MMO, it has a really cool setting that really isn't explored half as much as I'd like it to be, the way Gordon gets warped about.
"TLFM Zombie hunting, need medic and grenadier"

Lol this would be a little 12 year old girl (Gwen) getting chased by big hairy people to a camp of 30 somethings and she lives with them :P

No thanks. /notsigned

Hellgate: London has such shit art direction, I don't want to see it in a GW franchise.

Not sure what you mean here. Have you ever seen/played with White Wolf's World of Darkness? There is plenty of magic in a modern setting, and it is fused quite poetically. The lore is very deep and works well. It is entirely possible to mix and match these genres/settings and make it good. Of course it is equally possible for it to be bad, as well; but then that is entirely on how it is done, not because it is inherently doomed because of things 'thrown together.'

Another RPG that I loved with magic in a modern setting is the Call of Cthulu series. I realize it is all horror, which may have something to do with how they all work well; that is possible.

White Wolf's modern magic mostly revolves around demonic powers of vampires a werewolves you play in those RPG's... if I recall correctly, or did it include divine influence of hunters and priests as well?
Yea, that is kinda divine magic, however white wolf != D&D so it has no divine magic, I believe the magic in it as the demonic powers is a way around using actual powers of the will.
Which I think is a kinda lacking detour, but I agree it does fit into the white wolf setting and that it is a cool RPG.

I don't know anything about Cthulhu, other than how you spell it.

go play counterstrike, when it is this, what you want have >.>

because its only the settings that seperates Gw from Cs,amirite?
either way,stupid idea.

Yeah, I misspelled it, so sue me. Try Googleing it, there's lots of stuff out there about it.

Oh, and World of Darkness had Magi, who literally altered reality by force of will, exactly as you describe. It isn't all Vampires and Werewolves. Honestly, I was always more interested in the Magi, anyway.

In fact, if you're interested in the idea of magic in a modern setting, I would suggest the movies Nightwatch and Daywatch (sequel). They're a bit crazy, and the plot is a little lacking, but it does show how it could work as a kind of 'underground' element, and kept hidden from the eyes of mortals. That kinda thing.

For all yhose that are saying guns and modern features don't work in the fantasy RPG settings...May I direct you to the Final Fantasy series? Especially FFVII and the movie Advent Children where Cloud constantly battles against gunslingers.

Anyhoo, there are already games out there in the market providing this setting. The reason GW works for so many people is the fantasy based setting. RPG's are generally about escapism. Escaping from our world and immersing ourselves in something completely unreal. Therefore, /notsigned.

GW is not FF and will never be

short answer: yes, especially Pulp style sifi (hollow world, hellboy, world of tomorrow, etc)